Spandau Ballet – © to the owners
Steve Norman is the saxophonist of the original line-up of Spandau Ballet.
The five-piece British band made the history of blue-eyed soul and new wave music in the 1980s, released the chart-topping hits True and To Cut A Long Story Short, sold 25 million albums, and performed at the legendary Live Aid concert in 1985 alongside Paul Young, The Who, Queen, and Dire Straits.
Spandau Ballet disbanded in 1990, reunited in 2009 and split again in 2019, and Steve Norman got involved in various different music projects, collaborations with other artists and also founded his own band, called The Sleevz.
He is in today for an interview about life, music, achievements and the five different musical instruments he learned to play.
Steve, how do you feel when you hear one of your songs playing on the radio?
Steve Norman, Spandau Ballet, by Chris Youd ©
Oh, it’s great, of course! I guess the best time was when I heard To Cut a Long Story Short on the radio for the first time. I just thought, “Oh my God, wow!” – it was different from when you were playing it live, where someone is talking over at the beginning and the disc jockey interrupts at the end and the country’s listening! I’ll never forget that tune and the first time I heard myself on the radio.
Which one of your songs are you most attached to?
To Cut a Long Story Short reminds me of how excited it was, I was, we all were at that point in 1979-1980, when it was all just kicking off, when the future was in front of us, and we were just like “Where is this going to go?”, it was so exciting. And we were quite edgy and aggressive back then, and then True came out in 1983, and you cannot deny the power of the song True!
Who are your main influences in music?
My go-to reference in the 1970s was Stevie Wonder and his Talking Book album, so I got into soul music. Other influences were David Bowie and, of course, Prince. I really enjoyed playing with Earl Slick, who is a Bowie’s alumnus, and I love the whole 1970s scene. I love good musicians. Also, Iggy Pop, I was fortunate enough that he asked me to jump up on stage during one of his festival gigs; I mean, Iggy Pop asking me is one of the ticked boxes on my bucket list, really! I still cannot believe it, I’m still excited to play with people whose music I was listening to while I was growing up.
What achievements are you most proud of?
Steve Norman, Spandau Ballet, by Sabrina Winter ©
Being able to stay in the music business this long – over 40 years now! I mean, besides, obviously the personal ones, my children, my family, and that’s the biggest thing, and I’m lucky enough to be able to balance the two – my friends, my family and the music, plus great laughs. And I’m still in touch with so many people from back in the day who would come to my concerts. I do a lot of different things, sometimes a session playout in my corner, and a lot of touring with my band The Sleevz. Spandau Ballet have come to an end now, but we’re still in touch and I’m happy to say this, I made my peace with everyone and it’s nice to be able to remember the Spandau Ballet moments and craziness and the time we had together with fondness – not with bitterness.
What was your dream job as a child? Did you have a plan B?
I did not think about this often. I was studying in art school – I say “study”, but well, loosely studying in an art school, and all that I wanted to be actually was to form a band, which I did. Gary [Kemp, of Spandau Ballet] was in the band at the time and had it renewed for a couple of years. We’d been friends at that point, and we went everywhere together in the 1970s – I’m talking about 1975 here. We went on to see bands at all these classic clubs, like the Marquee Club in London Soho and other places that are no longer around, and we saw people like AC/DC before that great album Back in Black, I absolutely love that album, it’s brilliant… but when we saw them at the time, there were like 20 people in the audience, and they hadn’t broken yet! And so I pressured Gary a little bit, really, to form a band together. And then John Keeble came in – we went together to see The Sex Pistols and that kind of turned him on… I bumped into him in the music room at school because there were drums there, and I was used to getting there for lunchtime, and yeah, at some point, we all went to school together. And then Tony [Hadley] came up to me and said, “Are you looking for a singer for the band? I’ll sing for you!” – and this huge guy was looking at me [Tony Hadley is 6’4”, or 1,93 cm tall], and I was like “Oh, ok, nice to meet you by the way!” – I never really met him before. And then Martin [Kemp, of Spandau Ballet] came later, with Michael Ellison and Richard Miller before him. So that’s it, get the question again!
Why did you choose the saxophone?
Steve Norman, Spandau Ballet, by Marilyn Kingwill ©
It wasn’t me, I never ever had a desire to play the saxophone at all! I just wanted to be a really good guitarist. For me, the drive has always been to be a good musician, to be taken as a good musician. And then I always wanted to be a drummer when I was growing up, but I could never afford a drum kit really, and at the top of the block of flats where I lived there was no room to play in, and the noise would have annoyed the neighbours, so I just got interested in the guitar when I was 14, and then Spandau Ballet got together. I think it was 1981, and we were quite funky, and it was still club music by then, and so I got into percussion, which I felt was something I could do, and then I looked to go back to the guitar! But there were two of us, two guitarists between me and Gary and he took up the lead and so I was like, ok, you’re not leaving much space for me, and so I looked around for another instrument, and it was nearly the trumpet – that close it was to be the trumpet – but I feel it is not very flexible or versatile, where the saxophone is. And at the time, in the early 1980s, the saxophone was popular, more popular than it is now. And so I got myself a sax – and only like a year later we were doing a true album! I have some really great, fantastic memories from that time, things like touring in Europe in the 1980s, Live Aid in 1985 and all the great stuff.
Are there any memories from playing at Live Aid in 1985 you would like to share?
Oh, I mean, obviously, being on stage when there was just a sea of people out there! We played four songs, but I don’t remember too much of the performance itself. I do remember fondly the day before when the artists came into the Wembley Stadium to do the sound check. We’d always done the soundcheck before the gig, so I took my camera on stage, a big old-style camera you would put on your shoulder when there where Status Quo just warming up, and I knew them – we all knew each other – and so I got them waving into the camera and then there was Martin Kemp and the other Spandau Ballet members just pretending to play around with their guitars and so on! Very funny, fantastic memories, I’ve got some really nice footages and tapes taken backstage. I’ve got one tape that I haven’t even seen since I recorded it, and I wonder what’s in it. I just put it “somewhere safe”. Really, you know where you put something “somewhere safe” and then you lose it? So don’t ever put anything “somewhere safe” – just leave it where it is! I cannot find that tape, but I’ll let you know when I do, haha!
What do you think of the current state of music?
Steve Norman, Spandau Ballet, by Marilyn Kingwill ©
The current state of music? I find there’s so much of it, I like the mixture and when people mix things up, you’ve got a lot of new music. Diana Ross, for example, has a couple of great tracks. But it’s not so much the music itself, it’s how it’s sold and disseminated, which makes a major difference, I think. It used to be that you had to build up before a record release. And these days, it’s the other way around, so you release the record early, and then you do the promotion, which is a bit weird for me; it doesn’t make any sense, but it seems to be working. And the main downside at the moment is the inequality with streaming, like Spotify and all these platforms that simply don’t pay enough money to the artists and composers. So, I think we’re gonna have a whole generation of kids aged 14 now deciding not to get into the music business simply because it doesn’t pay, which is a real shame.
What do you think of event streaming?
I think some people call it live, but it’s all recorded; otherwise, there would be delays. Well, there is some software I think you can use now to sync music for people in different places, but it’s just an excuse: if you were to Zoom for all those people at the same time, you couldn’t do it because of the delay. So just play live. I like the idea of playing live and I keep it live as much as possible, whenever I do any messages, whenever there’s some cameo thing, and it’s not always perfect and sometimes my voice cracks, but that’s the beauty of live, isn’t it? It’s to see something that could go wrong.
What do you think of talent shows like The X Factor?
They’re great, aren’t they? I mean, it’s entertainment, but then, you know, in the UK, people and the media seem to like it when you’re up there and suddenly you get down. They seem to take joy and pleasure out of that, and I don’t understand that. It is certainly not like that in other countries, like in Italy, or America, or Spain, there’s a little more respect if you really reached success they still respect you whether you’re still continuing it or not – and in things like The X Factor and all those reality programmes some of the artists are just young kids and they’re sort of let go after a year or so. As long as people are respectful and help people to go through all this, then it’s good.
Steve Norman, Spandau Ballet, and Iggy Pop by Alain Lahana
Do you think a band could potentially never split? What does it take to stick together?
The first thing that comes to my mind, but not just relating to my experience, just in general, I think, is the lack of communication and the lack of respect because of that lack of communication. You can’t blame people too if they want to do other things, but I think you need to tell people in the right way and make sure you do tell them, to start with. That’s been something that really infuriated me over the years: if people don’t want to do it, just make sure everyone else knows, because otherwise they’re suddenly out of work and you’ve got to get things going all over again. And that’s tricky. Other than that, just make sure you know what you’re signing, and that everyone is very clear right at the beginning about what they’re letting themselves into. You just don’t want to sign contracts without reading the small print, because the devil is in the details. The devil is definitely into the details when it comes to music, and “whether there’s a hit there is a rip”, so just keep all that and keep respect for each other and don’t take your eyes off of where you would be without those people in the first place; a group is a team, so respect and communication are crucial.
Unless stated otherwise, pictures were provided from Steve Norman’s private collection © belongs to their respective owners